Sonic 1 prototype images
Both topics now merged together

Well then, I think it's safe to say that this is another case closed. I cannot understand why a newspaper would add their own words like that for the sake of it, and the font looks like its coming from the game rather then being used by the publication.

Seeing as this demo was more or less an advertisement for what Sonic could do, it's not surprising to see the text.

What does it actually say? Maybe this was discussed but this topic moves so fast...

The text doesn't look dissimilar enough from something the MD can display, and also doesn't look like something that's not really simple to implement (considering Naka's other feats in the demo) that there's any reason to theorise that it was added later.

The most parsimonious assumption is that it's original. (More evidence can, of course, alter this provisional assumption.) But until there is more evidence, any arguments that it was added look to me like attempts to prop up an initial misconception - one which never would have existed if we'd seen hi-res shots to begin with.

An unsharp mask wouldn't create the darker pixelated areas above the cloud that's overlapping the letter. I just really find it hard to understand why they'd take the time to sprite and program in these words for this one screenshot.

ICEknight, on 13 March 2012 - 01:56 PM, said:

Why would they do such a thing, only in that small screenshot from the whole magazine.

I don't have a good answer for that, but absence of evidence doesn't necessitate fact. I'm just placing my bets on post production.

Chances are it's part of the game, and what you're looking at is decieving artifacts. Keep in mind these are screens of what was a playable demo, so you probably ran through GHZ up to the point where the text said "COMMING SOON!," and that was that.

I don't see how some of you can even say this. I think some of you are posting what you think here for the sake of being involved, rather than actually looking at the evidence here.

A lot of us stated that it looks like the sprites for the clouds were coloured in dark slightly, which gives it the appearance of being a cut/paste job. Then our good old friend here made some (unsurprising) comparison:

Rika Chou, on 13 March 2012 - 10:32 PM, said:

Look what happens when you overlap a ghz tree with a cloud:

(using specual stage clouds/palette)

(using final ghz clouds/palette)

The darker area is just part of the cloud art so it blends into the background.

Not only that, but I have now done two other things to determine whether it is "pasted" on. Firstly, I have cut and compared how much in line the straight bottom of the text is compared to the classic chequered rocks below the grass, and they line up perfectly. If it was totally straight on the Mega Drive it would have to line up right or it would look at least a little awkward due to the resolution of the games.

Secondly, although this is a scan of a picture of the primary source, I have been able to confirm that the text's red colouring is identical in palette to that of Sonic's shoes, also taking in to effect the distortion and bleeding of colours due to the low quality of the image.

Lastly, you have to wonder why the hell someone would decide to go to all that trouble to paste some random text within the confines of the image box in the first place. It's not something I've ever seen before in any other magazines of the time, and considering that this was essentially a tech demo for Sonic- and thus the capabilities of the Mega Drive in the competitive market often dominated by Nintendo at the time- you really have to think that any misguided information or laziness would surely hurt their cause. We already know that this was a multilayered tech demo. If the text counted as another layer, that should help us get to our number (seven, wasn't it?).

Still, if you want to believe that someone went to all that trouble to insert text way back in 1990 rather than looking at all the current evidence for it, then be my guest.

Hmm...I can see it this way. if you were playing that first tech demo at that 1990 toy show and it was just probably just sonic running in a 1 stage thing with mild difficulty and mostly flatland I could see Sonic Team putting a "Coming Soon" as text in the sky before finishing the stage or something like that.

I think it's fairly safe to assume this build of the game was just an unplayable rolling demo. That's why it got so little coverage in the magazine. I'm sure it could still be hacked apart if someone dumped it, but I don't think it would be as exciting as many seem to be speculating. I don't expect to see a fully playable version of Sonic 1 based on all the original designs and concepts. At least not an official one. I'm aware of Mr Needlemouse.

I think it's fairly safe to assume this build of the game was just an unplayable rolling demo. That's why it got so little coverage in the magazine. I'm sure it could still be hacked apart if someone dumped it, but I don't think it would be as exciting as many seem to be speculating. I don't expect to see a fully playable version of Sonic 1 based on all the original designs and concepts. At least not an official one. I'm aware of Mr Needlemouse.

You are probably right about it being a very limited demo, but a disassembly of it would give alot of cool stuff. It isn't just art and data, but also code telling a history how the Sonic player was constructed. The Sonic player didn't change much at all between Sonic 1 to Sonic & Knuckles, meaning the player template was seen as flawless at the release of Sonic 1. I am very interested in how such a perfect design could have been created from the beginning.

I am sure even a very late prorotype of Sonic 1 would still have the Marble Zone planets and possibly the GHZ ball left, even if the rest of the game was completed. So any prototype, early to late are worth quite much for us original Sonic lovers.